For nature lovers it is sometimes hard to look at lantana and see it as a
devastating, invasive weed. It springs uninvited from fence rows, garden plots
and waste ground with vigor and a never ending abundance of brightly colored
flowers. What's not to like about it?

Its native home is Latin America but gardeners have moved it to hot climates
everwhere. It grows fast and reproduces via berries eaten by birds with great
efficiency. Thus it tends to push out native plants and because livestock find
it mostly unpallatable it can cover vast areas. Birds eat the berries and
ensure that it is growing even more widely than gardeners would have it by
spreading the seeds in their droppings. Sharp prickles appear along the angled
stems and the leaves are strongly aromatic. Leaves have prominent veins and the
margins are serrated.

A number of insects, including moths, beetles and leaf-mining flies have been
introduced to Africa for the purpose of achieving some level of biological
control. One example is the lantana hispine beetle which created tunnels in the
leaf surface. Results have been mixed. On reason might be the great variety of
species, varieties and hybrids that of lantana that have been spread around.